Many low-income working parents rely on subsidized child care. The Illinois Child Care Assistance Program supports qualifying families in working or attending school, many of whom may be unable to afford market-rate child care. Examining parents' income and employment patterns can guide policymakers to optimally structure subsidized child care to…

Smart Start Illinois is a multiyear plan to provide every child with access to preschool, increase funding to child care providers to raise wages and quality, and reach more vulnerable families with early support. Launched with a $300 million investment in the fiscal year 2024 state budget, Smart Start Illinois has already yielded results. The…

This technical brief contains information about data sources and methodology for the Illinois Child Care Assistance Program (CCAP) three-part brief series focused on the employment and earnings of parents participating in the CCAP program.

Despite the relative increase in early care and education (ECE) investment over recent decades, access to infant and toddler care continues to be a hurdle for countless families across the nation. While access is a multifaceted issue, main contributors include a lack of available slots and the high cost of providing care to infants and toddlers.…

State Quality Rating Improvement Systems (QRIS) can effectively support the improvement of school-age childcare programs by leveraging Program Quality Assessments (PQAs) alongside structured improvement planning and professional development. Real-world implementations in Arkansas, Michigan, and Pennsylvania underscore the impact and adaptability…

Basic Needs Oregon was established in 2021 through House Bill 2835 to ensure that students enrolled at Oregon's public colleges and universities can meet their basic needs--including food, housing, health care, transportation, and emergency financial support--so they can persist and succeed in higher education. Drawing on Basic Needs Oregon…

In Washington state, the Working Connections subsidized child care program, along with the Seasonal Child Care and Child Welfare Child Care programs, supports children from low-income households, fostering their early learning and development while enabling families to maintain employment. Within these programs it is important to monitor patterns…

California recently committed to making prekindergarten (PreK) universal through the expansion of transitional kindergarten (TK) and other state-funded programs. Between 2021-22 and 2023-24, TK enrollment doubled, from about 75,000 to over 151,000 children. Approximately 59% of eligible 4-year-olds enrolled in TK in 2023-24. Across publicly funded…

Various factors influence families' search for child care and early education (CCEE). These factors can be grouped into four dimensions of access: (1) reasonable effort to find CCEE; (2) affordability; (3) meets parents' needs; and (4) supports child development. All states provide a consumer education website to help inform families' child care…

For most families, the process of finding and paying for child care is challenging, particularly for families with low incomes. Access to information about child care and early education options can provide a critical support for families as they engage in the search process. Consumer education can help raise families' awareness about the range of…

Structural inequities influence young parents' access to health care, housing, transportation, social support, education, and income. The current study adds to the extant literature by providing data directly obtained in collaboration with young parents to understand how structural violence affects the health and well-being of their families,…

California made a historic commitment to early childhood education in 2021 by providing universal prekindergarten (UPK) for all 4-year-olds by 2025-26 and expanding access for income-eligible 3-year-olds. California's UPK initiative includes multiple early learning programs, including transitional kindergarten (TK), the California State Preschool…

This report examines the effects on child poverty of expanding access to state-funded preschool for qualifying three- and four-year-olds. Subsidized child care is a key part of the social safety net that in effect boosts the resources available to low-income families by reducing a significant expense they might otherwise bear. At present, most…

This document includes five technical appendices that accompany the full report, "The Impact of Expanding Public Preschool on Child Poverty in California." The five appendixes include: (1) Publicly Provided Child Care Programs Included in the Report Scenarios; (2) Summary Description of Child Care Scenarios Developed in the Report; (3)…

This report delineates evaluation findings from 43 programs that received over $8 million of state investment through Proposition 10 to support early childhood services in Kern County, California during Fiscal Year 2018-2019. To address results-based accountability of the state investment from a 50 cent-per-pack tax on cigarette and other tobacco…